“Last time we came I would have thought sitting in the shade very tame,” observed Jalli.
“The idea of sitting never occurred to me,” smiled Jack. “So what do you think of the Paradise Centre?”
“It reminds me of Wanulka, we had street children of sorts there. We don’t know we’re born, living on Joh.”
“Today – this whole experience of coming here – has been a real eye-opener for the kids.”
“Perhaps that’s why we had to come.”
“One of the reasons,” agreed Jack. “It struck me just how much we are used as blessings for one another. You know, when people who really care get together they can strengthen and encourage the giving in each other.”
For the second time in a few days, Kakko went home wet. At first, she had changed out of her bikini which she left in the sun to dry, but could not resist going for a last paddle, when, for some inexplicable reason, she got completely re-immersed. Her only option was to wear the evening dress (which she said was a totally naff idea) or put the bikini back on and cover herself with a towel. Jalli remembered that when she had got back to Wanulka twenty-plus years ago, she had worn her bikini too under her clothes, and had even scattered sand in the living room at home, so she said nothing. It would be good to get back and see her grandma and Matilda again. They might even have some of her grandmother’s beans for tea.
***
Meanwhile up on the headland Zookas was congratulating his children. “This, son, is the best thing you’ve ever done,” he said to his second born. “Keep it up.”
“I intend to,” said Adnak. “We’ve all volunteered to help them at the Paradise Centre. They’re starting up football and they want us to help them get going. Kakko and Shaun have told us all the rules and how big a football pitch is meant to be. So, Dad, all we need is a bit of flat land to play it on. Can we use that field by the river where the animals are?”
“I can’t see why not.”
“We’ll have to move the animals and mow the grass.”
“Oh. Is that all?”
“Not quite,” said his sister as keen as her brother. “Kakko has explained that the people in each team need different colour uniforms. She calls it a ‘strip’. Can we buy shirts and shorts for them?”
“Why not?” said her father. “But that’s it. No more!” But Zookas thought to himself, If this helps my children become better and more respected citizens then it is not only Pero and his kids that will benefit. Zookas was happy.
And Adnak, reflecting on the past unexpected and unplanned day, felt happy too.
12
Jalli took a last, long look at the bay over-looked by the Zookas’ villa, as she ushered her family though the white gate that led back into the cottage garden. She stepped through the hedge, the setting seaside sun on her back, and then was suddenly caught in a burst of torrential rain. Matilda would have said it was coming down like ‘stair-rods’. Shaun and Bandi had run across the lawn and had already reached the cottage door. Jalli adjusted her eyes just in time to see an almost naked horizontal figure, face down, limbs splayed, long dark hair streaming out behind, slithering rapidly through the puddles on the water-logged grass. Kakko’s left hand was still firmly clasping the corner of her towel, which followed behind like a long, blue fish.
Jack strode out through the rain and headed in the direction of his sons who were banging on the cottage door. He was unaware of Kakko coming to a halt between him and his objective. Jalli went to shout, but before she could utter a sound Jack’s right foot had hooked itself under Kakko’s leg and he went down face first with a momentous splash. Kakko got to her knees and sloshed over to her father. Jalli grimaced.
Jalli covered the distance with more care than Kakko and joined her bending over Jack. He could easily have planted a heavy shoe somewhere painful on Kakko, or done himself a serious injury, but both seemed relatively unscathed.
“So,” said Jack, lifting his head and getting his hands under him, “welcome home!”
“You alright, Dad?”
“I am. What about you? What on earth were you doing laying down in front of me in a puddle?”
“I slipped.”
“So it seems. You OK?”
“I am.” Looking up into her mother’s face now framed in wet rats’ tails, she added, “Sorry.” Then she saw the funny side of it. Her mum was kneeling on the grass in a puddle and her dad was wiping mud off his face, and Kakko began to laugh. Gathering his breath her father joined her and, then, reluctantly, Jalli allowed herself a slight smile. She took Jack’s hand to tug him up.
“What are you lot playing at?” barked Shaun. “We can’t get in!”
“Nan and Grandma won’t be out,” shouted Jalli. “Knock.”
“We have,” replied Bandi. “No-one’s in. The door’s locked.”
“The greenhouse,” said Jack.
“What! We have to all pile into the greenhouse? I’m perishing,” said Kakko, the humour gone. She was now cold and felt herself decidedly under-dressed, her brief bikini was totally inappropriate. She had suddenly become embarrassed.
“No,” said Jack, “I mean there is a spare key in the greenhouse… at least there used to be. We haven’t ever needed it.”
“Yes,” said Jalli, “I remember. It was a long time ago – before Bandi was born. We put it there in case anyone came home and I had gone to the hospital to have the baby unexpectedly.”
“I remember,” said Kakko. “It was under the last brick on the left at the far end. You showed me when I was a little kid. Will it still be there?”
“I expect so,” said Jack. “No-one has moved it. Go and look.”
Kakko stepped with care around the side of the house. The path was rough under her feet and there were stones on the flags that led to the greenhouse. Why me? Kakko thought to herself. Water gushed off the greenhouse roof and ran in a little stream down to the hedge behind. The rain was not making any sign of letting up. With difficulty Kakko slid open the glass door. It moved reluctantly but eventually she got it open and put a foot carefully onto dry soil. Inside Kakko smelled the sweet scent of the plants and vines that lined the glass walls. In here it was dry, warm and welcoming, Kakko felt she had wronged the little glass house, and then thought, Why not me? I did say I remembered where the key used to be. And it’s nice in here. Making her way to the end she lifted the little brick her mother had shown her fourteen years before and there it was. The key was caked in soil, but, when she picked it up and knocked it on the brick, most of the dirt fell away.
***
Once inside the house the young people rushed upstairs and began stripping off their wet things. Kakko made a beeline for her bedroom, gathered the first top and jeans she could see (most probably not clean) and was in the bathroom and had locked the door before anyone could do anything to stop her.
“At least she could have let us use the toilet,” despaired Bandi. “She’ll be in there an age now.”
“Doubt it,” said Shaun, “the boiler’s off. There will be no hot water. Where are Nan and Grandma?”
Downstairs Jack and Jalli were sitting around the kitchen table. The kettle was on. Jalli found a short note that had been put in the middle of the table under an empty fruit bowl.
“They’ve gone to hospital,” she said.
“Hospital?” queried Jack.
“Yes. Listen. Your mum put a note on the table. It says, ‘Grandma took a bad turn in the night. I rang the doctor and he sent for an ambulance. We’re going to City Hospital straight away. Grandma needs tests. She’s not in pain but she looks very unwell and can’t walk.”
“When was the note written?” asked Jack.
“She’s put, ‘2 a.m.’”
“That could be last night or the night before.”
“No, it’s last night. They brought in post and put it on the side. That means they were definitely here the first afternoon. If it had been yesterday the post would still be in the box.”
“A
nyway, that’s still over fifteen hours and they haven’t come back. They must have kept Grandma, and Mum has stayed with her.”
“Or she’s gone to Ada’s. That’s not far from the hospital. That way she can be on hand. She knows we’ll go down to the hospital as soon as we get in.”
“You’re right,” said Jack. “I wonder what’s wrong? We’d better get changed and get down there.”
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Jalli. We need to get to your grandma… I don’t want to panic you but if they’ve kept her in…”
“You’re right. I’ll make this tea and go and change.”
Kakko was screaming about the lack of hot water. The boys had changed and weren’t really bothered about getting washed. Jalli explained what they had read in the note. They would leave in half-an-hour. Kakko emerged from the bathroom.
“What’s up Mum?”
“Grandma’s in hospital. Your dad and I are going straight there.”
“I’m coming too!”
“No. There’s no point. They won’t let us all in. And,” she smiled, looking at her daughter in a scrunched top and dirty trousers, and with her newly towelled hair looking like something out of a horror movie, “I doubt they’ll let you in like that and we need to get off. I made some tea. Come down when you’re ready boys. Shaun you’re in charge of seeing you and your brother and sister eat.”
“Shaun?” said Kakko. “He can’t cook!”
“Now, I don’t want you to fight,” sighed Jalli, as the thought of her sick grandma flooded over her. “Not now!”
“Sorry, Mum,” said Kakko, truly seeing the point and enveloping her mother in a cuddle. “We won’t. Tell Grandma we’ll be in to see her tomorrow.”
“Or bring her home,” said Bandi quietly.
“We’ll ring you when we’ve seen her,” said Jack coming down the stairs. “Don’t forget the tea. It’s ready to drink.”
***
The hospital stood glistening, clean and bright in the last rays of the sun now emerging from behind the clouds that were clearing over the mountains that flanked the coastal plain to the east. The storm had passed and Jalli felt hope rising in her chest as she sucked in the clean, soft air.
Inside they were directed to a first-floor ward. They pushed open the double doors and approached the nurses’ station and asked to see Momori Rarga.
“You say you’re her daughter?” asked the nurse.
“No, her granddaughter. She brought me up. My parents are dead… and this is my husband.”
“Glad to see you. You are aware of your grandmother’s condition?”
“No. We… we’ve been away for a couple of days. We just got this note saying she was brought in last night.”
“I’m afraid Mrs Rarga is very ill. Come this way and I’ll explain.” The nurse took Jalli and Jack into a little room with soft chairs. “Mrs Rarga has some internal bleeding. We’ve done tests to see if we can identify where it is coming from, and we’re still not sure. The bleeding isn’t stopping. We’re giving her a lot of blood, and that is keeping her alive. If she is going to recover from this she will need an exploratory operation, but even then they may not be able to do anything. It will depend on what they can find. And I’m afraid there is a significant chance that she will not survive the operation.”
Jalli fell into Jack’s arms. As long as she could remember she had always had her grandma. She was there when her parents died. It was she who took Jalli to school on her first day. It was she who had kept Jalli going after the dreadful events in Parmanda Park. And it was she who had conspired with Mr Bandi to get Jalli to see how stupid she was behaving towards Jack and had encouraged her into a relationship with a boy from a completely different world and let her be married at a ridiculously young age. And it was she who had been there as Jalli’s children had been born. They had never lived apart in all that time.
“She is not in any pain. None at all,” added the nurse. “I’ll take you to see her.”
The nurse conducted them to a private room with a view across the ocean. Jalli saw an ashen-faced lady in a hospital nightdress slumped against a pile of pillows and thought there must be some mistake. This woman was not her grandma. But then she saw Matilda spring out of a chair to greet them.
“Jack, Jalli. I’d no idea how long… I was worried…”
Jack put a strong arm around her.
“OK Mum, we’re here now. We came as soon as we got back.”
Jalli was leaning over her grandmother, “Grandma.”
Momori open her eyes and smiled.
“Jalli… Sorry.”
“Sorry, what for? You sound like Kakko.”
“Do I? I’m so tired. But now you’re here…” Momori clasped her granddaughter’s hand and closed her eyes once more.
“She keeps calling Dang,” said Matilda. “I’ve never met him of course.”
“Dang. I am going to meet him, and my son, your father… and all of them,” murmured Momori.
A nurse came into the room and checked the cannula beside the bed and then Momori’s pulse.
“Who is this Dang you keep calling?” she asked.
“My husband, my dear husband,” said Momori, summoning strength.
“Grandfather died along with my parents and brother, uncle, aunt and cousins in a flood,” explained Jalli. “Only me and Grandma survived. She was all I had.”
“But now,” whispered Momori, “she has this wonderful man and a beautiful family.”
“And a good friend in Matilda,” added the nurse.
“She’s my sister.”
“Sister-in-law,” said Matilda. “Jack here is my son. But Momori and I have lived together for over twenty years. Our children saw to that.”
“But now I must go,” sighed Momori.
“You’re not going anywhere Grandma,” asserted Jalli, “not yet. You have to get better first.”
“No. I am going to Dang, and…”
“Grandma. No. Don’t give up. They’ll get you better…”
“Oh I must go. I must. The time has come. I am looking forward to it. I want to be with him again… where are your children?”
“Oh. At home. Hopefully behaving themselves!”
“They always behave themselves,” smiled Momori.
“Grandma, they are going to do an operation and make you well,” said Jalli.
“No. No operation. The time has come…”
“Grandma,” wept Jalli. “You must…”
“No, Jalli. It is the way it should be. I have a future to go to. They have been waiting for me long enough. You no longer need me. You have Jack, the children, and Matilda here.”
“We do need you, Grandma,” sobbed Jalli. “I need you!”
“No… you want me, but you don’t need me.”
Jack came around the bed and took her other hand.
“I’ll look after her, Grandma!”
“You’d better!”
“Nothing I want to do more.”
“Of course not. You were destined for one another forever, as I am for Dang.”
There was a slight tap on the door. It was Pastor Ruk from the church.
“Hello,” he said. Then to Momori, “I heard you were here and thought I would come and see you.”
Momori summoned up more strength to smile.
“She says she doesn’t want the operation,” complained Jalli.
“What operation?” asked the pastor.
“To find out where the bleeding is and stop it.”
“Ah, I see.” Jack stood up and made way for him. “…and you don’t want this operation?”
“No. I’m too tired. My time has come,” and Momori closed her eyes and sighed.
“Can I say a prayer?” said Ruk. Momori nodded. “Dear Lord God, we thank you so much for Momori. We ask you to bless her now, bless her with healing, and new life and all that she needs. Grant peace to her and all her family. Give the doctors and nurses here wisdom. Show them what it is
you want for Momori and be with her, always. Amen.”
“Thank you,” said Jack.
“No operation,” murmured Momori, and she drifted into sleep.
Ten minutes later the ward sister appeared and asked to see Jalli. Jack rose to his feet and Jalli took his hand.
“I will stay here, you all go and talk to Sister,” said Ruk.
Back in the little room, the sister explained that the nurse had reported that Momori had consistently refused to have an operation.
“We cannot make her if she doesn’t want to. And I must be frank with you, the doctor isn’t happy with it either. The chances of her coming through are fifty-fifty at best, and they really don’t know if it would help even then. If she wants it, we would do it. But she seems to have made up her mind, and I think if I were in her place,” she added, “I would do the same.”
Jack took hold of Jalli’s arm, “She’s happy and content. She wants to step into her new world. She can see her white gate.”
“But this one is one way,” wept Jalli. “I have never been without her… ever.”
“No. But you’ve always known that she would move on one day. And maybe that day’s arrived. It’s Dang’s turn now, and her children and her mum and dad and her grandma.”
“You’re right. I know you’re right. But I just don’t want to let her go …”
“Of course not,” said the sister. “You love her.”
Jalli nodded.
Matilda spoke, “Can I ask a question?”
“Of course,” said Jalli.
“Sister, if you decide not to do the operation, what happens then?”
“She is being sustained by the drip. There is only so much of that we can do. One or two more bags and that will be it. Then she is on her own.”
“…and then she will die,” stated Jalli.
The sister nodded her agreement. Jack pulled Jalli closer to him.
“The children, they must be here, she cannot die without them seeing her!”
“That was what I was thinking,” said Matilda.
“We’ll send a taxi for them,” said Jack. Then to the sister, “That’s alright isn’t it?”
“Of course. The bags will last an hour or two. I think you have made the right decision. You are very brave.”
Ultimate Justice Page 9
